


In a bind

by Ill_Ratte



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Aromantic Gavin Reed, Bonding, Everything that can go wrong for Gavin does, Experiments, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, One-Sided Bond, One-Sided Love, Other, Possessive Nines, Protective Nines, Romanxe-repulsed Gavin, Serial Killers, Snowball Fight, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, Trans Gavin Reed, unwanted touching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2020-06-26 06:10:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19762204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ill_Ratte/pseuds/Ill_Ratte
Summary: Everyone has a soulmate. The so-called perfect match, the one that makes life worth living. But somehow, the thought only leaves Gavin Reed with terror. Luckily for him, for the past 36 years, he’s lived happily without his soulmate. But after a chance meeting with a mysterious prototype, his whole world is about to change.





	1. Chapter 1

Ever since Gavin could remember, he had dreaded meeting his soulmate. 

While his friends had all spent their early years waiting for their match, many sleepovers spent daydreaming about a handsome soulmate coming to sweep them off their feet, of bursting into the telltale white light that demarcated finding your “one true other”, Gavin had spent his with a knot in his stomach at the thought of his whole life being upheaved. Because as far as society was concerned, finding your soulmate was the beginning and ending of your being. It was the reason people were born, to be the “half” that created the “whole”. 

But all it meant for Gavin was pain. He had spent his school years lonely, trying desperately to fake a connection to the longing that so many of the girls he had befriended held towards the concept. But somehow, they could sense the distance he felt towards their daydreams of whatever famous, unbonded man they had set their eyes on. While they had seen it as him being a lesbian, othered him in some fear that he would never, could never enact on them, Gavin still found little solace in the group of outcasts he was shafted into. 

It wasn’t that he disliked men. Their bodies were fine to him, and the bodies of men like himself more than fine. It was the bonding that terrified him. Somehow, nothing seemed more repulsive than being absolutely enamored with one person, of having his whole personhood ripped away, his dreams shattered, with pleasing his partner the only thing to look forward to. And the thought of bonding with a woman, of being attached to and belonging to one forever, like how so many of Gavin’s newfound friends desired, still set his teeth on edge. His loneliness only grew as he watched his friends pair off, their soulmates somehow so close at hand. 

Leaving for college was a relief. With few friends left, and a growing uneasiness ripe inside of him, the safety from his peers and parents let him explore, let him reinvent himself. 

The first time someone called him Gavin, he thought his problems were solved. The wrongness, the distance. Surely his problem with being bonded lay in the expectation of himself being a woman with a man, instead of him being a man and his husband like he was supposed to be. But as the euphoria quieted into a subtle lull, the uneasiness remained. 

Gavin moved on from college, again leaving many friends behind. Even more had found their perfect match, and summarily decided they didn’t need him in their life. 

But Gavin didn’t care. He had moved out from home, gone through the academy and gotten a job, using the money to pay for the new wardrobe and hormone treatments he desperately desired. The hormones were a hard won battle, with many therapist appointments spent with Gavin begging and pleading. Most trans people weren’t allowed to transition before finding their soulmate. Fear of a theoretical cis person (most trans people bonded with other trans people, of course) being disappointed outweighed the well-being of tangible trans people. Only the persuasion of his brother, semi estranged but already a “big wig” in the tech industry, had let him go on the treatment. But surgery was out of the question, not that Gavin particularly desired it. Gavin’s body was for himself only, and any further alterations of it felt like an attempt to please cis people. 

And as he settled into his life, for the first time in a long while, he was content. People had pitied him, of course, from fellow officers to the few hookups he had. Many took being unbonded at his age as some form of divine punishment. Because how ever could someone live fully without their “other half”? Gavin ignored it, like he had so many years before. 

He advanced to detective, made friends, bought cats, moved apartments. Dealt with the upset of androids being added to the police force. And now, he dealt with the monotony of day to day life. 

Gavin tapped his fingers against his desk, browsing the wall of messages that had somehow piled up in the hour that passed after he was supposed to be at work and before he arrived. The coffee in his hand was cold, a sure sign to get a new one if he wasn’t under the laser focus of a particularly disgruntled Captain. 

As he decided what to ignore on the wall, a new message popped up on screen. Gavin clicked it with a sigh. Of course, it had to be another case involving androids. 

While it had been a year since the revolution, androids were still a prime target for hatred. With the discovery that they, like humans, had soulmates, even forming bonds with humans, Android marriage had quickly been forced into law, far sooner than most of the populace was ready for. That had spiked hate crimes, with unbonded young men seeing them as the reason for their deprivation of a soulmate. Or more recently, it led to the destruction of androids in Cyberlife’s vaults. 

Most vaults had been emptied, as per the androids emancipation demands, but a few, mostly filled with prototypes and unfinished experiments, those unsuitable to be released into the public, had remained, deactivated and abandoned. And just as Gavin’s luck would have it, he was assigned to work on a new break in. 

It was all hands on deck with them, crossing through Android Crime (Hank and his lovebirds realm) into Homocide (with the newly recognized personhood of androids). 

As Gavin scrolled through the memo, eyes glazing over, Connor coughed politely. The android stood right in front of his desk, smile decidedly pleasant. “I see you have arrived, Detective. Would you like to head out now?” 

“We the only ones assigned to this shit?”

Connor’s lips pursed at the expletive. “Hank and I were assigned, alongside you. Some others are already at the crime scene. Hank will be driving us.”

“Joy.”

——-

As Gavin slumped into the back seat, face firmly positioned to stare out the window, he couldn’t help but wince. Connor has offered him the passenger seat, but the thought of being privy to Hank “stealing” glances at Connor through the rear view mirror, with Connor playfully admonishing him to keep an eye on the road, made him sick. At least now he could ignore how Connor kept his hand pressed into Hank’s thigh.

It wouldn’t have bothered him so much, if Hank had been nobody. Gavin hardly flinched when he saw Ben with his soulmate, still tender despite the years of their relationship. But Hank was, had been, like him. Older than Gavin, yet still unmated. And coupled with the child he had out of bond-lock, he was an outcast. Even with the veneration from his skills, Hank was still cast with scrutiny from the more conservative members of the force. 

Hank was prickly towards him at first, but Gavin didn’t let that stop him, eventually pulling out bits and pieces of personal information from the Lieutenant. So, a quiet camaraderie had grown, from their disinterest in “the bonded life”, as well as the sneaking suspicion Gavin held that Hank was trans like him. Gavin was stealth in his department, leaving him unable to comfortably ask Hank outright, but Hank’s “vacation” surrounding Cole’s birth had always left him suspicious. 

But now, with Hank finding a mate in Connor, it was like he had lost him all over again. Even being at peace with his son’s death, it seemed the man had no time for someone he had once considered a friend. 

“I said, we’re here.” Connor’s hand tapped his, and Gavin jumped. “You weren’t responding.” Connor gave him a tight smile. 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m getting up.” As he stepped out of the car, Gavin shivered. It was uncharacteristically cold for the middle of spring, ice and snow still latching onto whatever edifice they could find. The wind did little to help, only making him shrug his jacket closer. 

“The perpetrator entered through the front door here, and proceeded into the storage areas. They’ve recovered two dead androids already, seeming to have been activated prior to their murder.” Connor briefed them as they entered through the main doorway. Like all Cyberlife warehouses, the building jutted to impossible heights, glass and steel surrounding the structure. 

It was in a sparsely populated area, halfway into the wilderness, but entirely abandoned. An old military holding facility, probably a dumping ground for Cyberlife’s failed experiments. 

The hallway echoed with their footsteps, traveling only to fade into the chatter emanating from a doorway on the left. 

“Murder? So were they deviated beforehand? And how the fuck did they activate?” 

“Cyberlife had an “All On” signal installed in their newest models. Perhaps the killer triggered that. And we can’t be sure, but the stress from the attack may have caused the deviation.” Connor winced as he said the last words. 

Stress was the right word, Gavin mused. While most of the blue blood had dried off from the cold walls, what did remain painted a gory picture. Large swatches of concrete glowed sickly blue. “Where did they find the bodies?”

“Right through that door seems to be where they were dispatched. The two they found were military-grade androids.” 

“Guess our killer bit off a little more than he could chew, right?” Gavin flicked his eyes back to the blood. Still, none of it appeared to be human. 

“Perhaps.” 

The room was small, with another doorway off to the side. The two androids limbs had been laid out in an X pattern, faces to the floor. Other officers killed around. 

“Do they think this is connected to the other killings? Or just some type of copycat?” The DPD had had a few reports of android murders, the usual type written off as single-incident hate crimes. Mostly single, unbonded android men. The type that most wouldn’t care if they went missing. 

“Fowler doesn’t want to call it that yet. But the details of the positionings were never reported...” 

“Too scared of the press?” Gavin snorted. Fowler preferred to “play shit safe” when it came to serial killers; the last thing the man wanted was the press crawling all over his station. 

“Most likely. We should bring this up to him.” 

“Yeah, yeah. You can do that shit.” Gavin mumbled, pacing around the bodies. Someone had gone at the androids with a knife, by the looks of it, before finishing them off with a shot to the head. “Looks like they had fun with it.” 

“Hey! You’re gonna want to see this!” 

Chris. Gavin whipped his head up, mouthing “What?!” At him. 

“Is it another body?”

“An android, still alive. Some military prototype model. We think he was activated when the others were, but… he hasn’t deviated yet.” Chris’s eyes lingered on Connor as he said it. 

“I can interface with him! That way, I can help him deviate.”

“And help us get information. Chris, lead the way.” 

They followed him through another door, leading into a larger chamber. Despite the year of abandonment, the air smelled damp. Like snow and ice had somehow crept inside the farthest crevices of the building, shooting it through with mildew and decay. Or more likely, whatever fluid that had once floated in the tanks that lined the wall, glass shattered long ago, had tainted the floor. The stench made Gavin want to vomit. 

Gavin’s eyes scanned the rest of the room, alighting on the group of people swarming the far corner. A crisp white jacket was the only blip in the landscape of dark blue. The android was tall, towering a good few inches above the officers, thick brown hair visible even from so far away. 

“... was able to get a voice sample from the intruder. While it doesn’t match any of my records, I’m sure a full profile and investigation will allow us to find someone measuring up to it.”

The voice was new, deep enough to match the height, and cut through with the tiniest crackle of static. Over a year locked away had done the android surprisingly little damage. 

“And why couldn’t he have apprehended the killer himself, if he’s such a hotshot?” Gavin shot the question at Chris. 

“The door was sealed tight from the outside. We only opened it because we could hear him moving around.” 

“Whatever.” It seemed even a newly activated android was trying to upstage him at his own damn job. 

“What do you think his functions are? He’s probably a prototype, like me! I bet he’ll want me to show him around.” It seemed with Hank in the other room, it fell to Gavin to amuse the android. 

“Gee whiz! Maybe he’ll let you suck his dick!” 

Before Connor could respond, either to chastise him for inappropriate work behavior, or to inquire how that would work since he was already bonded, Gavin sped up. 

The new android seemed concerned by their commotion, head tilting up and eyes locking on Connor. 

“Fucking hell.” It was Connor’s double. Connor’s taller, bulkier, blue eyed (??) double. 

In the seconds that it took both Connor and Gavin to process that information, it seemed the android realized the implications of the similarities. 

“Stand back, deviant! Or I will shoot!” The android brandished his gun at Connor, jabbing it in emphasis. It had all of its attention on Connor. 

Gavin crept forwards. 

“I’m not- Don’t do this. You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“I said, stand back-“

Gavin was only two feet away now. He shoved his hand out hard, futilely pushing at the androids taught wrist. All that earned him was the android’s deep blue eyes locking on him and-

People were never consistent on what, exactly, triggered the soulmate bond, triggered the awakening of the lifelong connection that had both sunk ships and built empires. Some claimed it was the first touch that triggered it, the first contact where you could truly feel the heat of your other on you. Others held that it was when the eyes first met, or at least when firm eye contact was first established. 

But Gavin supposed It was both of them, together, that triggered it for the android. Because as his hand closed around the somehow pulsing wrist, and as their eyes locked together, the only immutable sign of a soulmate being found occurred- the android erupted in pure white light.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on tumblr @illratte for more stuff :)

For RK900, life started with Gavin. 

There was the time before that, but his research told him that that was not conducive of life. He had spent that time in darkness, would have spent it in fear if he had been able to emulate that emotion. 

He had first “woken up” attached to the wall. Perhaps as a way to better work on him (he was listed as a prototype), or perhaps to keep him still. The first conjecture seemed most likely, as the straps gave way easily. 

When the police officers had pried open the door, he had been prepared. The circumstances surrounding his awakening had surprised him (in the hours between the shooting and the opening, he had lots of time to conjecture), for once he recalled the murky thoughts that had scattered in his memory during the lengthy time of his construction, he knew he was supposed to be in the military. 

But, aiding the police had been as good as any calling. His need for order had latched onto it. That had all changed when he saw his Gavin. 

As the white light engulfed him, for a split second he had watched a red wall appear before dissipating, shattered. In the next second, Gavin was against the wall, back pressed tight into the concrete as his arms encased him. 

Because the people from before, the deviant, what could they be but a threat? He pinged his mind for his next orders, because surely his superiors knew how to keep his Gavin safe. Nothing came. Again, nothing. 

Gavin stared at him glassily, eyes wide in an obvious plea for assistance. This time, RK900 searched his database for his symptoms. His left hand, the one furthest from the others, lifted to caress Gavin’s face. For the first time, RK900 marveled at feeling something. 

A single file came up, blue name glowing mockingly in his eyes. “Deviant”. As he flipped through the file, his hand clenched more and more at every checked off mark. Inability to find orders, emotions, a soulmate. What was a soulmate? 

He ran the diagnostic again, pressing Gavin further against the wall and growling when the man attempted to move. He didn’t want to scare him, but how else could he keep him safe? 

Information filled his system. “Soulmate bonds are unbreakable bonds formed by romantic love. Forged upon sight of the person in question, bonds connect those fated to love each other. The creation of such bonds is usually punctuated by a burst of light around the bondees, colloquially referee to as ‘The Glow’”.   
The article continued for a few more lines, and the RK900 scanned it readily. 

Love. The word kept repeating, totaling at 26 iterations in the article he had pulled up. 

Did he love Gavin? 

As he was about to commence another search, this time on the mysterious “Love”, something caught in the corner of his eye. As the butt of a gun slammed into him, he realized he had been ignoring the steady beep beep beep of his early warning, too wrapped up in the implications of the man before him. 

The last thing the RK900 perceived as his sensors went dark was the look, not of fear, but of relief, in Gavin’s eyes as he fell. 

————————-

It seemed the recurring theme of the next two hours was not “Sorry you were trapped by a volatile, barely deviated android”, but instead a solemn “I’m so sorry we had to do that to your soulmate”. 

Gavin fucking hated it. 

It was one thing to deal with the possibility of a soulmate in the abstract, to plan not only for how he would feel, but how society would treat him afterwards. 

But now, the reality was crushing him. 

In all the literature Gavin had read about soulmates, all of the stories he had been privy to both willingly and unwillingly, never did it go over the possibility that he wouldn’t form the bond back. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he had always supposed that returning the feelings would make it better, more bearable. Because as horrible as having his entire mind rewritten to make way for one person appeared, the new reality that faced him felt infinitely worse. 

If Gavin Reed had been a good soulmate, he would have waited dutifully by the RK900s bedside, tableside, wherever they saw fit to patch the damn thing up, would have held his hand and cooed sweet nothings into his ear in the barest hope that his internal processors would be back online enough to store them away for later reflection. Instead, he paced dully outside of the briefing room, the only thing keeping him there the weight of social obligation. 

“Reed! Get in here!” At least the usual curtness of the captain wasn’t tampered by unwanted sympathy. 

Gavin hurried inside, trying to keep his head down. 

Both Connor and Chris were waiting inside. Both looked at him with pity. 

“So. Your… soulmate is going to make a full recovery. There were complications, of course, from the lack of knowledge on his particular model. Cyberlife wasn’t too keen on giving out any information.”

“This isn’t about the break in? The murders?” Gavin’s fingers twitched. He wanted to fidget, but didn’t like the image it would put across. 

Chris’s hand came down on his shoulder, squeezing it. “We took care of that, Gav. We thought since you’re so closely involved, emotion-wise, that it would be best to take you off of the case. 

“The fuck do you mean?”

“You’re being let out early so you can see your soulmate. If you are feeling up to returning to work tomorrow, I will see to assigning you a new case. Otherwise, you can have as much time as you need.” The Captain gave him the closest thing to a smile he had ever received. 

As he got up to leave, the captain held him back. “Hank will accompany you to the clinic. And Gavin, I know I have appeared only… tolerant of you in the past, but if you ever need someone to speak to, I’m familiar with the hardships of having to deal with soulmates.”

It was a nice sentiment. Perhaps the nicest one the Captain had given him. Gavin wanted to scream. To get out of the strange, pitying nightmare he had been thrust into. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Instead, he swallowed hard, nodding his head like he understood the pain that had crept into Fowler’s eyes before ducking out of the office. 

Hank was waiting for him by the entrance. He wasn’t smiling, but he wasn’t frowning, either, and Gavin supposed that was as much endorsement as he could hope for from the man. 

“So.” Gavin thrusted his hands into the pockets of his jacket, shooting Hank a pursed smile. 

“You ready to go, kid?” 

“I guess.” 

“You guess? Don’t get so riled up all at once.”

“What?” In the back of Gavin’s mind, he supposed that he should have faked at least a little enthusiasm. But his overwhelming distaste for the ordeal couldn’t help but spill out. 

“He could have died! And you’re just… standing there, not even relieved? Christ Reed, are you that heartless?”

“He’s fine. I don’t know what you’re implying.” Shoving past him, Gavin stalked towards the door. Maybe he could catch a taxi to the repair center, or just go home. 

Just as Gavin decided on going back to his apartment, Hank’s hand clapped onto his shoulder. “Not so fast. Jeffrey said I had to take you.” 

“So what, you can strangle me in your backseat? Fowler can go fuck himself.” 

“I’m not gonna- even if you’re being a dick-“

“How? I’m fucking going, aren’t I?” 

“Of course. Cause not even being your goddamn soulmate would make you like an Android, huh? This is all some fucking chore to you, right?”

“That’s- that’s not-“ The last remark stung. But he didn’t hate androids, not anymore. Disliked them, maybe. Was freaked out by them, sure. But hated? He supposed it must have seemed so cruel to an outsider like Hank. 

“You spent years pining and lonely, just like I did, and yet when life hands you everything you wanted on a goddamn silver platter, you turn it down? Just because he’s an android?” 

“I never wanted this.” Before Hank could respond with whatever wrong, painful idea that had slipped into his head over the years of their friendship, Gavin slipped out the door. 

Fat droplets of ice water alerted him to the fact that it was raining. “Fucking great.” Gavin growled, tugging his hood over his head and stomping to his car. Maybe he would see the RK900 after all, just to get everyone off his ass. It wouldn’t do to lose any more friends. 

————————

The recovery room was surprisingly sterile. Not that Gavin had expected better from the android version of a hospital, but somehow, the inorganic nature of androids had led him to expect it to look more like an auto shop. Something with android parts on display, or oil and blue blood sprayed across the floor. 

Instead, RK900 sat upright in a barely large enough white bed, his blue eyes narrowed in military alertness. No one else was in the room with them, a thought that gave Gavin great pause, but a police officer Gavin didn’t recognize remained outside of the door. Maybe she’d hear if Gavin screamed. Or maybe she’d assume it was a lover’s spat between them. 

The android’s eyes alighted on him and immediately softened. “Gavin?” 

“The one and only.” The room was cramped, but Gavin still kept as much distance as he could between them. 

“My only.” 

The android looked downright sentimental. Gavin swallowed hard.

“So. The boys say they’re sorry for giving you such a knock to the head.”

“Boys?”

“Police officers. My coworkers. The people I work with.”

“Your friends?” A smile crept across the android’s face. 

“Something like that. Uhh, how did you sleep?” 

“Sleep? If you mean my unconsciousness, it passed uneventfully. I simply awoke during the operation.”

“That’s- The fuck? Weren’t you scared?” Despite himself, Gavin leaned closer. He had never interacted with an android like this before; sure, he loved to harass Connor, and had held at least one conversation with one of the receptionists, and maybe even countless androids going stealth after the revolution, but he had never gotten a glimpse into the inner workings of an android, the parts that made them distinctly inhuman. Once upon a time, he supposed he would have been freaked out by it, but closeness bred curiosity. 

“Scared? I… suppose I might have been, if it hadn’t happened before. But it is routine for androids to be operated on while awake during our creation process.”

“Jesus. That’s something else.”

“What else?”

“Never mind.” 

“Tell me, are you scared often? What does that feel like?” The android was staring at him now, mouth working in concentration. 

“The fuck are you implying?” 

“You asked if I was scared, upon my explanation of my ‘sleep’. It seems to be a go-to response for you, how you relate to things. Like how you were afraid in the compound. I want to know how it feels for you.” 

“Why?” 

“I… desire to understand how you feel. We’re soulmates, from very different backgrounds. We should build a common link, a bridge between us, to draw from when interacting with each other.” The android has such large hands, Gavin realized, much larger than Connor’s. They worked at the blanket, playing with a loosened thread. 

“Well, what if I don’t want to?” 

The android blinked, and before he could formulate a response, a nurse stuck her head in through the door. 

“You’re Reed, right? They said you would be here.”

“Yes.” He turned to her, feeling the tension cut in the room. His best attempt at a smile felt flat. “What is it?”

“He’s free to go.”

“Go where?”

“Your place of residence. While he’s eligible for android housing, we thought it would be best if he had you there to help him aclimate. Besides, isn’t he your soulmate? It would be too cruel to keep you two apart.” 

——————

“Put your shit in the guest room. And don’t track mud on my floor!” Gavin watched in sordid amusement as the android carefully analyzed his welcome mat before gingerly scraping his feet across it. He still wore the garments they had found him in, the collar of his white jacket now free of the grime from the compound. 

The android didn’t have much in way of “shit”. Just his clothes, a case of blue blood to last the week, and a plastic flower a nurse had given him. Thankfully, RK900 would be able to get himself anything he needed with the allowance set aside for newly deviated androids. While in most cases, the human soulmate was expected to provide for an android, the government hadn’t had to deal with such a newly deviated android attaching to someone. 

“Guest room? Am I only staying here temporarily?”

Gavin didn’t answer. “It’s down the hall and to your right. Put your jacket in the closet to dry. And uhh, don’t mind anything you find in there, ok?” It was really a spare room, full of shit Gavin had broken or outgrown, but “guest room” had a better ring to it. Gavin supposed it made it sound like he had his life in order. 

As the android hurried off, Gavin trudged over to his coffee maker. Right now, he needed a cup to calm himself. His fingers drummed on the counter as he waited. 

A mote of dust had settled, and Gavin huffed as his fingers caked in it. Fucking perfect. Between his case load and his lack of company, he hadn’t remembered maintenance. 

When the little timer dinged, he grabbed the cup, not waiting for it to cool as it splashed down his throat. He placed it in the sink, next to the dishes from breakfast and the past two dinners. Dust somehow cling to the ridge of the counter. 

“You about done in there?” He hadn’t told the android what to do after he finished, but somehow he had assumed he would come right back out. He seemed keen on spending as much time with Gavin as he could get. 

With no answer, Gavin stalked over to the room. The door hung ajar, and as he peeked inside, his eyes narrowed. 

The android stood above a neat array of Gavin’s old things, hands hovering over them in a caress. 

“What are you doing with my stuff?”

“I thought these were for guests. They’re in the guest room.” 

Gavin hadn’t thought to give the android bedding, and it seemed the android sought to rectify that; his old hoodies, barely more than rags, covered the bed, with a pile of half decayed stuffed animals sitting at the head as a pillow. As well as the “bedding”, the RK900 had set out old bottles on the windowsill, to catch and refract the light that filtered in, and he now palpitated a black fabric in his hands. 

“That’s- you can keep the bottles, but proper bedding is in my closet. And… what’s in your hand?” 

The android nodded, turning out his palms to display Gavin’s old binder. 

“Is this yours?”

“... yes.” He didn’t like the thought of the android knowing he was trans, but it would have come out eventually.

The android seemed unphazed. “It appears to be an outdated model.” Still, his finger caressed the dark fabric. 

“I don’t use it anymore.” 

“Oh. May I keep it?”

“... Knock yourself out.” 

Gavin went to get bedding, casting a last look at the android. With Gavin seemingly gone, he nuzzled the binder once before setting it next to the flower on his windowsill. 

The night passed evenly enough, with RK900 sipping quietly on his blue blood next to Gavin as they watched TV. RK900 seemed to enjoy war movies, and they had settled into watching Independence Day. 

When the credits started scrolling past, RK900 sat up. “Shall we go to your bedroom now?”

“‘We’?”

“Us two. While I appreciate the place to stow my things, it would be much easier for me to keep you safe while we’re in the same room.” 

Gavin snorted, already heading to his room. “Fat chance.” He slammed the door behind him. 

Gavin would have liked to stay strong, to only offer the android a sneer when he begged to be let in. Instead, at 3:35 in the morning, he let the android traipse in Like he was some giant cat, content to sit and watch him from the corner of the room. His eyes glowed bright blue in the dark, searing into Gavin’s eyesight. 

So Gavin was particularly unhappy when the reporter knocked on his door right as he downed his second cup of coffee that morning. Even with RK9 occupied in cleaning up from the night before, it all felt like too much. 

Throwing open the door, he shot the woman a tepid glare. “I’m not on the fucking case, alright? So don’t ask me.”

“Case?” She blinked in confusion, and Gavin paused. 

“Then why are you…”

“You’re Gavin Reed, right? Well, we want to know how it happened.” Her head shook in earnestness. 

“How what happened?” 

“How you and your Android were the first human-android pair to create a soulmate bond even before your partner deviated!”


	3. Chapter 3

To say the least, it had been a rough night. Rougher than the android would have expected. 

The movie was fun, with the heat of Gavin pouring onto him in the tiniest of waves, the stretch of sofa between them seemingly eternal. But he hadn’t cared. Maybe his Human was just not fond of physical touch, or simply tired from the days events. His research told him this was possible. 

But not sharing a bed? That was what mates did! It was where mates cuddled, copulated, even built the foundation of their relationships. 

But down the hall felt like miles. Even while he could hear Gavin from his room to check up on him, every twist and twitch made him jump. So eventually, he had begged his way in, getting little time to perform stasis, but making sure his Gavin was safe nonetheless. He had only “slipped off” when Gavin groggily told him that he was getting up for the day. 

He had gained precious few minutes of rest. But now, a new intrusion decided to bother him. 

“Who’s at your door, Gavin?”

“Come see for yourself.”

Entering the kitchen, RK900 scanned the intruder. A woman, 27, Reporter. 

“You must be the android!”

“I am an android.” He nodded, pointing to his LED. 

“Well, his soulmate.”

The mention sent something through RK900, an emotion. It both curled his toes and made somewhere in his abdominal area clench, and he stored the conflicting sensations away for later. “That is I, yes.” 

“Well, Gavin and me were wondering when would be good for an interview?”

“Interview?” A quick scan lead that it was usually performed on public figures or those who had witnessed a newsworthy event. Were they a newsworthy event? The second scan returned inconclusive. 

“Yes. I’ll just ask you questions, and you’ll answer honestly.”

“About what?”

She seemed harmless enough, but he didn’t like the way she probed. Would she ask him how Gavin felt about being his soulmate? Carefully, he stepped in front of Gavin. 

“Just you two. How you’re settling in. Getting over the hospitalization, how it happened.” 

“Do we have to do it now?” Gavin grumbled from behind him. 

“Well, nows better than never, right?” 

“I too would like some time. I have only gotten to make Gavin’s acquaintance for a short while, and I wish to spend all the time with him that I can.”

“Fine. How bout later this week?” 

“That’s fine. You need to get going now.” Before the reporter could protest, Gavin had ushered her out of the door. 

“Why would she want to know about us?”

“Well… guess no other android has made a soulmate bond before deviating.” 

RK900 wanted to ask more, but Gavin seemed distant. 

“What will we be doing today, Gavin?” All the Android wanted to do was stay inside, with Gavin firmly positioned between his arms, getting to know the taste and smell of his soulmate, but Gavin most likely had other ideas. He was part of the police, after all, and the chance of him getting two days off was slim. 

“I’m going to work. You can stay here. There’s uh, TV if you want.” 

“Stay here? But who will keep you safe? I am programmed with over 5000 combat scenarios. If something were to happen to you-“

“Nothing’s GOING to happen to me! Christ, because of you, I’m not even on the case anymore.” 

“The case?” It was slang, of that he was sure, but he wasn’t sure to which ‘case’ it pertained. 

“Yours. Y’know, two androids get hacked up in a secret Cyberlife compound, you sit back and listen.” Something strangely venomous had entered Gavin’s tone. 

“That is not how the events occurred. I was trapped inside of a Cyberlife vault, and your friends opened it for me. I gathered as much information as I could.” He hadn’t thought much about the vault, about the voice he had heard. In the wake of Gavin, it had all seemed so minute. So unnecessary. He hadn’t even been a deviant then, focused on his mission of “assess the situation”. Not focused on the fact that two military prototypes, perhaps not far off from his own abilities, had been massacred in the other room.

“They’re not my fucking friends, ok? And whatever. If it really floats your fucking boat, come with me. Just don’t get in my way.”

“I will. And you won’t have to worry about my interference.” Were mates always this cranky with each other? The question gnawed at RK900 as they prepared to leave. 

——————-

“Reed. I’m surprised to see you two getting along so well.” Hank, with a coffee in hand, grinned at him. 

Gavin resisted the urge to hiss. For the past few hours, things had been going alright. Not great, of course; the android hovered over him like a damn dog, somehow not getting enough of Gavin filling out the paperwork he had been assigned. Paperwork that was all the RK900’s fault. But he didn’t need Hank thinking that all Gavin needed was to be shacked up with some android to make him a pleasant member of society. 

“What? You think I don’t know how to behave?” 

“I know you don’t.” 

Besides him, RK900 frowned. “I think Gavin behaves very well.” 

“Do you now?” 

“While he likes his space, he is very giving! He gave me my own room, and his old bi-“

“Yes, yes, I’m very giving. Please, get me a coffee or something.” He ushered the android away, RK900 looking back at him in puzzlement. As he got into the break room, Gavin turned back to Hank. “Now, what do you really want?”

“To congratulate you. Thought you’d have murdered each other by the time you had to be in at work, but you didn’t.” 

“Wow. Aren’t you just the poster boy of congratulations.” 

“You could be less awful, Reed. Besides, I’m glad to see you with someone. It’s about time you got yours.”

“Got mine? What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Well, yknow, I know you like to go on about being too tough for a mate or whatever, but you found someone now, and I’m happy for you. You don’t have to go on with that “forever unlovable” shit you like to put out.” 

“And where the fuck do you get off on that?” Unloveable? Not wanting to have a soulmate didn’t make him unloveable. Sure, he didn’t have many friends, and everyone kept their distance, but that didn’t mean he was the seething ball of hatred Hank saw him as. 

“Look, you and I both know we were in a bad place for awhile. We had each other, sure, but I’m pretty sure all we did was drag each other down. But we’re not in our own little lonely hearts club anymore, and you don’t have to keep feeling sorry for yourself that life passed you by or whatever, or keep hanging up on the wrong choices you made.” 

“I didn’t do anything wrong. I was happy before that goddamned android stepped into my life! Can’t you fucking see that? We’re not the same. I guess that’s what I get for trying to be your friend; you just project your own problems onto me.”

Hank looked like he was going to say something back, but RK9 stepped into view, balancing a coffee in his hand. “Gavin! I surmised that you would appreciate at least five sugars in your coffee. Is that to your taste?”

“Y-Yeah.” Gavin mumbled, grabbing the cup from the android’s hand. As the hot liquid splashed down his throat, he couldn’t help but lift his lips at the taste. “You analyze my cup this morning or some shit?”

The android nodded. “I wanted to know how to provide for you.” 

Hank shot him a knowing smirk before turning away from them. “You two have fun, why don’t you? I’ll be at my desk if you need me.” 

As the hours passed, Gavin’s good humor from before withered. While RK9 had been fine in the morning, content to simply sit and watch as Gavin begrudgingly absorbed himself in the paperwork Fowler had assigned him, now he seemed tense. Probably not helped by Gavin’s refusal to return any affection that the android shot his way. 

After Hank left, it started small. The android’s hand grazing his shoulder, their legs somehow connecting under the seat, even RK9’s face brushing so close to his like he was nuzzling him, could have been accounted for as accidental, even platonic actions. But as they escalated, they only served to make him sick. 

He didn’t know why it bothered him so much. He wasn’t repulsed by touch normally; his partner’s hands in his hair and on his back had always been more than good, and even Tina ruffling his hair was pleasant from time to time. Yet somehow, all he wanted was to sink into the chair. 

Fowler yelling “Reed, get in here!” was, for the first time, entirely welcome. 

Almost jumping out of his seat, he hurried into the glass office. Fowler looked tired, more than his voice had let on. “Is it true that you’ll be speaking to the press about your android?” 

“How did you figure that? Sides, it’s not your problem. 

“He’s classified information! Cyberlife is making it my problem.”

“How classified can he be? They abandoned him. What, do they want him back now?” Despite himself, Gavin felt his teeth clench. He didn’t want the android with him, but Cyberlife repossessing him was too cruel even for Gavin to stomach. 

“... No. They just want him out of the public eye.” 

“Why?”

For a second, Fowler looked like he was going to say something. “That’s classified.” 

“Fine. Whatever. Don’t tell me anything. It’s not like I work here or anything.” As Gavin stood up, he knew he’d get yet another mark on his record for insubordination. The thought hardly bothered him. “I think we’re done here.”

“We’re done here when I say-“

“You can find me at my desk, doing all of the bullshit work you think I’m smart enough to do. Even I can’t fuck up paperwork, right?”

Fowler didn’t chase after him, so Gavin tried not to let the door slam too hard on his way out. The thought that Fowler was only going easy on him because of his “troubled lovelife” made him wish he had. 

RK9 looked up at him like a puppy when he neared his desk. His fingers worked against the black fabric of Gavin’s old binder, somehow smuggled in in the android’s coat. Gavin took a sharp left, ending up at Hank and Connors desk. 

Hank was gone, but Connor beamed at him as he approached. While he had been nothing but hostile towards the android, Connor somehow still had the energy to be nice to him. “Good morning, Detective Reed!”

“... Hi.”

“What brings you here? Would you like a mint?” Connor pushed the small tray of candies towards him. His smile seemed genuine enough, so Gavin took two, rolling them in his hands as he decided on what to say.

“Uh, what do you know about RK9?”

“The RK900?”

“Yeah. You’re his predecessor, right? Cuz he’s, yknow, got your face n shit.” 

“Not much. He was built with a deviant hunting feature, but he also claims to be designated for military service, so he probably has some advanced combat capabilities.”

“Well, I guess we know he can shoot shit.” Gavin laughed awkwardly. 

“His skills likely lie in the arena of cognition and analysis. With his powers of preconstruction, he would be an asset on the battlefield. Of course, there is always the problem of compassion.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, people want soldiers to be able to make good decisions. Like evaluate if civilians are threats. That’s why Cyberlife has so few military androids, at least undeclared ones; the casualties add up.”

Gavin winced. He didn’t particularly pay close attention to android news; it still left a bad taste in his mouth to be reminded of one he had been avoiding for so long. 

“Speaking of compassion, I never did get to thank you.”

“For what?” His eyes narrowed. The image of Connor thanking him for making RK9 happy made him want to barf. 

“For saving me. I mean, you didn’t have to, and you didn’t know that he wouldn’t hurt you. It was very compassionate of you to do that.”

“Yeah, well, you all saved me from RK9 going feral on me, so I guess we’re even.” Gavin popped one of the mints in his mouth, crunching down with his teeth. 

“You should learn to accept praise, now that you’re getting it.” 

The exact implications of the phrasing slipped by Gavin until Connor winked at him. 

“And there are far worse things than being with someone who loves you.”

Love. Gavin was beginning to hate the word. “He had only met me. That’s not love.”

“He cares about you. And if you let yourself, you’ll care about him, too.”

Before Gavin could pull back, Connor’s hand wrapped around his. “I think you dropped your second mint. Have this one instead.” A cold finger caressed his palm. 

Gavin stiffened, dread settling in his stomach. It wasn’t that the touch was bad, far from it; it felt nice, safe, the compassion from the android somehow seeping through to him through the tiny bit of contact. But the implication was clear. The love behind RK900’s eyes was the only thing that set him apart, the “love” he held for Gavin the only thing turning his affection to a nightmare.

As Gavin pulled away, mint held numbly in his hand, three words raced through his mind. “Am I unloveable?”

—————————

Gavin was silent when he returned to the desk. Not “Silent” silent, as the sound of his breathing, congested and just a bit heavier than his resting rate, filled the air around him, but in the human sense. All of his communication was nonverbal. 

Like the way he kept his hands in his pockets, and his head bowed, and how he wouldn’t even look at RK900 as he slumped in his seat. 

He reached out to touch his shoulder, to caress it like he had seen so many soulmates do to comfort their other half. Gavin shrugged it off. 

“I think we can go now. Fowler doesn’t have any use for me here.”

The chair screeched as Gavin stood up. 

They made their way to the car in silence, human silence punctuated by Gavin’s breath, still heavy, and the horrifically loud smack of their shoes against the floor. 

“Fuck.”

While they were inside, white had coated the earth, as well as the roof of Gavin’s car. RK900 decided he liked it. It was pretty, casting the bleak Detroit cityscape in delicate blue shadow, and if made Gavin’s cheeks flush with color. Like how RK900 imagined he would be after copulation. 

A large ball of white smacked him in the face. 

“Did you just got me, Gavin?” He expected anger, maybe even rage when he turned to look at his mate. Instead, Gavin was grinning. 

“You were just standing there. Had to make sure you were still alive.” His eyebrows wiggled in possibly the happiest display RK900 had seen all day. 

So of course, he had to return the favor. 

Gavin yelped when the snowball smacked into his face. Not enough to hurt, of course, but perhaps enough to make his human reconsider his grin. 

The second snowball made Gavin double over in laughter, shakily hissing out “Truce”. 

“A truce? You started this war.”

“Well it’s cold and I want to go home. And besides, I need your big strong manly help in cleaning off my car.” 

RK900 fell into scraping off the snow besides Gavin, intermittently casting him smiles. Perhaps Gavin’s aversion to touch was because of dysphoria (trans men had it, he was sure, though it troubled him to think it could apply to his whole body), or him being sleep deprived. 

Because surely, Gavin had to love him back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see? Honestly, you’re getting this because the urge absolutely Struck me, and also this AU is my baby and I wanna see it through to the end.   
> As always, please remember to leave comments below. They help so much with my motivation, especially for multichapter stories like these!   
> Tumblr: @illratte   
> Twitter: @Ill_Ratte   
> I honestly love meeting people, and I share a lot of juicy stuff on both accounts, so feel free to say hello!

Gavin stared at the wall of his bedroom, watching the morning light twist it into different patterns. He hadn’t slept much, and it hurt just to open his eyes. Because across from his bed, RK900 perched dutifully in an old wooden chair. Watching him. 

It had been their comprise. At first, Gavin had been fine with it; it kept RK900 from hulking outside of his bedroom door like a mix between a cat and a demon, and if Gavin remained on his side, he wouldn’t even have to look at the goddamn thing. Besides, he had felt a little bad after he had pushed RK9 away from him while watching a movie. 

At the second night in, Gavin had wondered if it would become their routine. Get home, fix dinner for himself while the android watched and straggled behind, and slump in front of the television until the noise drowned out his brain. Not letting RK9 touch him, the perfect picture of pre-divorce non-soulmate matches that people loved to share around, usually captioned with “Of course it had to end like this.” Of course, they were bonded at least partly. The salt to the wound, as it were. He wondered if others saw it like he did. If they sensed the way that trepidation and fear rolled off of him whenever RK9 looked at him. If his coworkers hadn’t hated him before, surely they’d hate him now. 

“You are awake.” 

“Am I?” He grumbled, turning over to face him and grabbing at his pillow, stuffing it over his face in one motion. That would send the message of how, exactly, he felt about being “woken” by the android. 

“Gavin Reed. When do you normally wake yourself up for work?” 

From the slit between the pillow and the bed, RK9 looked concerned. 

He had to be in at 9:15, or 9:30 at the latest. Usually, he snoozed to 8:59 exactly, spent 10 minutes in the shower, and got coffee as his only form of breakfast at the station. The most mentally stimulating part of his morning was slithering into his binder and deciding whether or not to put on his packer (usually not). While chest binders had undergone a few rounds of innovation in the name of safety, making putting one on far less intensive than in his teen years, packers hadn’t been given the same courtesy. Cis people only cared about “preserving” trans people, not actually helping them, so he wasn’t surprised. Just bitter. He lifted his pillow to check his phone. 9:10. 

“It’s none of your goddamn business.” Gavin grumbled, pushing himself upright. “Besides, it’s not like they’ll have anything for me to do, right?” He contemplated skipping work entirely. 

“But you’re a very skilled detective! I’m sure they’ll require your insight on something.” 

“Really?” The words ‘You don’t even know me!’ bubbled under his tongue, but he swallowed them back. 

“Why else would you be there in the first place? And you found me, remember?” 

“Sure, sure. I’m going.” He didn’t have time for a shower, and he only stepped into the clothes that he had tossed aside yesterday after stomping back into his room. “You coming?” He still wasn’t comfortable leaving a virtual stranger alone in his apartment, even if said stranger had watched him sleep. He had to have boundaries, after all. 

“One moment. I will meet you at your car?”

Gavin raised an eyebrow, but he didn't press. Freak probably wanted to smuggle Gavin’s old binder in again. “You have two minutes, or I’m leaving without you.” 

Nines took two and a half, by Gavin’s count, but Gavin was too busy deciding on whether or not he was heartless enough to really leave without him to actually follow through before RK9 got there. To RK9’s credit, if he did have Gavin’s binder, he had the good sense to keep it hidden. 

“Sorry got my tardiness, Gavin. It won’t happen again.” 

“You bet it won’t.” He grumbled half-heartedly, plotting the destination for the precinct. He almost ordered the android to stay in the car, where Gavin wouldn’t have to deal with him, but RK9 was earnest enough to obey, and Gavin wasn’t that heartless. 

Instead, RK9 followed him like a goddamn puppy into the building. 

“You know, I should really just call you K9.”

“I beg your pardon?”

‘Then beg’. Gavin thought, but that was also just a bit too mean for such a naive android. “What I should call you. Since you’re always dogging at my heels.”

“What else do you call me, Gavin?”

“... Just RK9.” ‘Don’t be such a creep about it.’ 

“Oh.” K9 looked dissappointed. 

“Well, what do you want me to call you? Got a name or something? … Guess you kinda look like a Kevin. Richard Kevin; matches your letters.” 

“Usually soulmates use pet names for each other. Like sweetheart, or darling. Or love.”

Gavin choked at the last one. He couldn’t quite describe how the word felt, passing through the android’s lips. Maybe like rot, festering rot burning deep in his abdomen. 

K9 didn’t seem to notice. “But I also like more creative names. Like little guy! Since you are so little compared to me!” He made a patting motion with his hand. Gavin snapped at it with his teeth. 

“Maybe you are the K9!” He chuckled. He didn’t pat at Gavin again though. 

“Were already late.” Gavin grunted, motioning at the door. They may have also been scaring the poor secretary android. 

Gavin was almost relieved when he saw his desk. The weight of the nicknames K9 had suggested still clung to the air, and at least there he could pretend to throw himself into his work to escape small talk. Or actually throw himself, if it came to that. 

Tossing his jacket onto the chair, he pointed at the flimsier one besides it. “Stay there while I get my coffee.” K9 sat obediently. 

While no one was in the break room, almost everyone had already arrived. Even fucking Hank Anderson. Gavin avoided eye contact as he stalked by his desk. 

After he dallied as long as he could, fussing over settings and perhaps grateful just a little that the machine here wasn’t as busted as the one at his house he had never got around to replacing, he returned to his desk. He hoped for nothing disturbed, and he expected K9 to at least be occupying himself in the chair. Instead, placed center stage in the desk by a now proudly beaming android, were two whole, raw eggs and a half-demolished bag of cereal, no doubt liberated from the box of Cap’n Crunch still lurking in his pantry. 

“What the fuck is that.” Gavin pointed at the eggs. 

“Eggs! Protein is essential to a balanced breakfast!” 

“They’re raw, … Buddy.” 

K9’s eyes flashed at the new nickname, and Gavin almost regretted giving it to him. “Raw?”

“You need to cook em before you eat em”. 

“... oh.” 

“It’s alright, buddy. We can egg Connor’s car with them later.” He snickered, plopping down into the seat besides him. He wouldn’t, of course, but the gesture was oddly sweet, and he really didn’t want to make the android upset over something so trivial. It wasn’t like anyone else had bothered to do something like that for him. “How’d you know to get me something, anyways?”

“Well, I noticed yesterday that you only made coffee at your house, and that you didn’t partake in food until your designated lunch hour. And a quick bout of research told me that not partaking in breakfast is dangerously unhealthy, so I retrieved some common breakfast foods I could get my hands on.”

“Yeah, yeah ok. You’re not my mom.” Still, as he crunched a handful of cereal in his mouth, he had to admit it tasted good. 

“Well, I am your soulmate, actually. So it is my job to provide for you.” 

“So you’re like the wife in our relationship? Hot.” He had a mountain of digital paperwork waiting for him, and maybe talking to K9 wasn’t so bad, especially if he kept any mentions of soulmates as jokes. It was like he was in water; he just had to tread enough to keep his head above it. 

“I prefer to think of myself as your personal bodyguard; keeping. Your well fed if just another facet of my duties. But if it makes you happy…” 

Gavin couldn’t tell if the little smile K9 gave him was genuine or not, and he got the distinct feeling the Android was joking with him. Gavin liked it. “Bodyguard? Gives it a bit of a BDSM vibe, right?” 

As the Android’s cheeks lit up blue at the implication, Gavin turned back to his work, switching the terminal on. Fowler had really dumped the worst of the worst on him, backlog that everyone else had rightfully shuffled off to That Other Shmuck. Of course, now Gavin was That Other Shmuck, at the end of a long, prestigious legacy. His eyes glazed over three times in a grand total of ten minutes. 

Finally, as if propelled by some outside force, he found his fingers straying over a link to the DPD’s databases. While they held more than enough info for the average case on humans, and an adequate amount on Androids, and certainly more than Gavin wanted for his current work, info about Cyberlife’s vaulted projects was few and far between. And yet, he couldn’t stop the itch that drove him. Technically, it wasn’t a misuse of company property; knowing more about K9 meant getting along better, and maybe even being more productive. 

As his fingers hovered over the search bar, he glanced over at K9. The android was kneading something between his hands, looking up and smiling when he sensed Gavin’s eyes on him. 

“Hey… K9? Buddy? Could you get me a refill?” 

K9 nodded. “Of course.” 

As the android walked away, Gavin turned back to the screen. He searched RK900 first, and filtered out for Connor. A few still showed up, as well as a few hundred mentions of Markus that had snuck in. He had just about given up, the threat of K9 being back soon looming over him, when he had an idea. 

“RK900 + Military + -Connor -Markus -Revolution”

The search took longer to load, Gavin’s foot jittering against the side of the terminal. The first result was an image. K9 stood in the center, a group of men around him. He wasn’t formal, like usual, but still in a military uniform shared by the people around him. He was laughing, smile lines crinkling his eyes, arm in arm with the people like they were friends. All at once, both warmth and jealousy shot through Gavin; he wanted to know the K9 in the picture, and to have what he had. The K9 in the picture looked younger, and he had such a handsome red blush. He looked like a man Gavin might have fucked around with. 

“Wait. Red?” As Gavin’s eyes lingered over the picture, the slow, slipping feeling in his stomach grew. The smile lines, the youth, the mussed hair. The red, red stain across his face. This wasn’t RK900; this was a human. He slipped his cursor over the image, mouthing the title. “Boys in Blue: The RK900 unit celebrates a return from a successful mission - July 4th, 2018”

“Holy fucking shit.” 

“What, dear?” K9 Asked. 

It was only half a lifetime of clicking away from weird internet porn before his mother that got him to close the browser fast enough. “Nothing. Just… coffee smells real good. You did a great job.” He hoped the compliment would distract the android, even if he did feel more than a little guilty for lying like that. He wasn’t sure why he was keeping his snooping a secret, either way. It just… felt rude to pry, but he had to know. Like it or not, K9 was his weirdo doppelgänger murderbot, and he wanted to know the most he could about it. 

“Thank you! I made it with you in mind.” K9 waggled his eyebrows, and for a second, the other man’s face flashed before him. Gavin gulped. 

“Mm. Thanks wifey.” He bit back half the cup in a gulp. It was going to be a long day. 

————————-

Gavin left two and a half hours early, claiming personal time. Really, they were headed to the first round of the interview. Gavin hardly remembered the woman’s name, but he did remember they had been offered compensation, and anything was better than sitting in the precinct on his ass. Besides, the idling had already led him to one mistake; sending a text to fucking Elijah. If anyone knew about Cyberlife’s pet projects, it was him. Well, besides the android sitting right next to him. 

“What will we be talking about during the interview?” K9 Asked quietly. 

“Loads of things. How we met, are day to day. Shit like that.”

While the android nodded, he didn’t look convinced. “Alright. And what if I get stuck?” 

“Uhh try to answer the question you wish they had asked you?” In theory, Gavin should have been a pro; being a homicide detective meant standing up to more than a few reporters. Still, it all seemed so different when it was about his own life. “It’s just a gossip rag, man; don’t sweat it. In fact, we can bail if you want!” The closer they got to the Starbucks, the less Gavin wanted to go through with it. 

“Bail? … oh, no. That wouldn’t be polite, now would it?” 

“Yeah, guess not. It’d be a real shit move.” They were in the parking lot already, so there was no use in running. 

The Starbucks was packed, mostly high schoolers crowding around the few tired Baristas on duty. Gavin made his way to the waving figure of the reporter. A younger man sat beside her. While he was well-built, he looked pale. Gavin guessed he wasn’t a fan of crowds. 

“Hey.” His smile was tensed, but hopefully not too unfriendly. 

“Have a seat! Tell me, tell me, what have my two favorite boys been up to?” 

“Work, mostly.”

“Fascinating, Fascinating.” She steepled her hands together. 

“So, who’s you’re friend?”

“Kevin? Don’t mind him. He was the one covering all of those android stabbings. Spooky stuff, you know? I made him tag along; figured he could ask your mate there some questions!”

Gavin glanced between them. Kevin’s eyes were locked on K9, the paleness hardly having abated. Gavin grinned. Little shit was afraid of androids; maybe that was why he covered the break-ins so closely. Morbid fascination did a lot for people. Still, the kid seemed to loosen up when K9 gave him a tiny wave. Gavin had to admit to even himself that the wave was cute, if super dorky. 

“You alright with that, K9? Ready for your first taste of police work?” Fowler would be pissed at them for going ahead, but Gavin didn’t care. 

“”K9? Why don’t we start on that, Gavin?” The reporter leaned forward, like a cat ready to pounce. 

“Uhh… just a name I have for him. Cuz he’s RK900, so RK9, but he follows me around like a puppy half the time so ergo K9.” He could feel sweat slivering off of him at the last few words. The reporter only tutted, squinting her eyes at him. 

“I like to call him Little Guy!” K9 interjected. Gavin wasn’t sure on whether or not it was meant as retaliation. 

“Well, I guess you are short. What are you, 5’5”?” 

“I don’t see how that pertains to anything”. Gavin bristled. 

“Alright, alright. So, you’re standing there, in that abandoned Cyberlife vault, and you lock eyes with him. The glow overtakes you. What were you thinking? I mean, you’re 36 years old, and he’s an undeviated android!” 

“‘Oh fuck.’” She didn’t need to know it was more from dread than surprise. 

“Go on. So you’re surprised, of course you’re surprised; you’re living out the plot of every harlequin romance novel, with a male android, no less!” 

Gavin’s hands tightened at the way she stressed “male”. “I didn’t care that he’s a dude, you know.” 

“Of course! It’s 2038, of course. We embrace diversity, and we embrace fluidity!” She gave his arm a squeeze before he could yank it away, and Gavin wondered if he would have been better off telling her he was gay outright. “Now, how are things after? The stigma? Android/human relationships are accepted so little, so how must it feel for people to hate you for being with the love of your life?”

Gavin wanted to gag. “It sucks. A lot.” 

“Of course, of course.” She scribbled furiously on her notepad. “Has the stigma put any strains on your relationship?” 

K9 glanced over, and Gavin grimaced. “Nope. We’re healthy as ever. Haha.” The android looked for a moment like he wanted to interject, but thankfully he kept his mouth shut. 

Gavin’s phone buzzed once, and he scrabbled for it in his pocket. He didn’t care that he was being rude. His phone displayed one new message from Elijah Kamski: “Hey baby bro; long time no see. I might have some info on that; I’m free now for us to talk, in private. Bring the android.” Followed by an address. 

“So sorry, but we have to go now? Catch up with you at some other time?” He didn’t wait for an answer before grabbing K9 and almost pulling him out of there. 

“We weren’t finished talking.” Said K9. He didn’t seem particularly upset. 

“Oh, we were. Besides, there’s someone we need to see.”

“Who? Is it a friend?”

“... God, no. My estranged older brother.”


End file.
